Develop Bugs

will Verizon Galaxy Nexus OTA come to my phone?

Hey Guys,
I used the galaxy nexus root kit to unlock my bootloader and to root my phone (I didn't install a custom rom, I just used what was default on the program after backing up my phone)
Here are my questions:
1) will I receive the official OTA upgrade / be able to install it?
2) If I am able to will that re-lock the bootloader on my phone?
I'm pretty hesitant to install any custom rom of Jellybean since I've had problems with them in the past almost leading up to a bricked phone, so I just wanted to make sure that the OTA will come to my phone, and that it'll work after I being installing it.
Thanks!
~Mike

If I remember right, if you don't have a custom recovery installed, you should still be able to get the OTA.

hmmm well I know that there is clockworksmod on here, but nothing else. I know thats a recovery program... I wonder if I should just flash the google asop direct from google for my verizon nexus :\

My understanding of the matter is that once you are rooted with a custom recovery, you should steer clear of OTA updates. They can definitely break root and have the potential to hard brick the device. This information is from my experiences with an Evo, so things may be different with the Nexus. I've only had mine for a month or so and haven't done enough reading yet to say for certain. If you really want the OTA there is a one-click method to return to stock over in the development section. Haven't been in that thread yet, so I don't know what kind of success/failure rate it's getting. Just read the last couple of pages and you should have a pretty fair idea of how it's going. If it seems doubtful, there are also several excellent guides for doing it manually. efrant has a link to one in his sig I think. Hope this helps!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

The OTA won't auto-install if you have CWM recovery flashed. You can use CWM to flash the update manually, but it will never work automatically.

[Q] Rooting GN

Greetings XDA,
Ive recently got me a GN (yakju) (couldn't wait for N4) and wait to get updated to 4.2. Now i run 4.2 and i want to unlock its boot loader & root it.
Not yet interested of having new roms on it, im cool with its stock android BUT i need to get full control of my device and not being restricted on apps that don't need root.
In case you want to ask me WHY i just didn't follow any of the guides for rooting nexuses in the forum, the answer is because im not sure which is the best/easiest/newest/safest
Im not very familiar with such staff i want to make is as simple as it gets and avoid breaking my phone (if thats even possible).
So please can you assist me to take this first android steps ?
Thanks in advance

safest and easiest.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1529058

Hi, welcome to the GNex and the possibilities with it. I have had my GNex since Jan 2012 and it was rooted 2 weeks later. I'm sure if you search in XDA you find lots of help on rooting. However I started out with the www.galaxynexusforum.com forum and followed the unlocking and rooting by Wug.
Assuming you have a verizon GNex here is what you should follow
Wug's Nexus Root Toolkit v1.6.0 [Updated 11/26/12]
It is a nice tool installed on a windows pc or laptop and I have used it to do my GNex and also another one from a friend about 6 month after mine.
Works great and i think if you follow these thread you are rooted in no time.
Good luck

I have the GSM nexus.

Ok its unlocked now, preparing to root.
I just got 1 more final question, considering i will not flash any other rom or such, with my device ONLY unlocked & rooted, will i be able to get OTA updates from now on or i will have to flash myself ? (also do i need Custom Recovery ? what does it do ? )

equilibriumgr said:
Ok its unlocked now, preparing to root.
I just got 1 more final question, considering i will not flash any other rom or such, with my device ONLY unlocked & rooted, will i be able to get OTA updates from now on or i will have to flash myself ? (also do i need Custom Recovery ? what does it do ? )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You dont need a tool to unlock...you just need adb and fastboot.
Ensure ADB Debugging is enabled.
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot oem unlock
At this point you can push a custom recovery to your phone - I think there are recoveries now that support 4.2.
After flashing the custom recovery, boot into it and flash your superuser.zip
Lol...thats it.
I think you can still get OTA's but you will lose root. I suppose if the OTA was that important, you can relock the device (you will lose data) and then OTA up to the newest version and unlock again.
If you have a GSM device you are lucky, because the factory images are pretty plentiful. On Verizon CDMA we only have 4.1.1 (and because of this I only use 4.1.1 stock).
I had to relock and unroot on Tuesday because of a SIM card issue - didnt want Verizon knowing it was rooted. Came home and unlocked and rerooted all over again. Took about 10 minutes total.

After OTA 4.2.1 root is lost. Do i need to repeat the process to re-root ?

equilibriumgr said:
After OTA 4.2.1 root is lost. Do i need to repeat the process to re-root ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rooting a nexus will always be the same steps.

Thinking about rooting - need some advice

Hey all!
First Nexus device ever here, and I'm loving it! I've long been an amateur tinkerer with Android things (I've been through the Droid X, Bionic, Razr, Razr Maxx, and currently rocking the SGS3; Tablet wise I've had the OG Nook Color pimped out with Cyanogenmod, the HP Touchpad with Android, and more recently an Asus TF201 Transformer Prime).
Needless to say, I'm not completely useless with this type of stuff! I am, however, a little curious as to the rooting / unlocking process.
1) It looks like you need to unlock to root this device? Just double checking because that's new to me. (yes, I already know you lose your data if you do)
2) If I unlock / root but don't change the system files other than the custom recovery, can I still flash the OTAs when they come? I am not currently interested in a custom ROM, and I know I won't actually be PROMPTED for the OTAs if I have a custom recovery, but can I simply sideload the official update .zip and install via TWRP? Or is that impossible? I also understand Voodoo would be necessary (or re-rooting if Voodoo doesn't work on the update)
3) If 2 is impossible, what is the procedure to install official updates while rooted / unlocked?
Sorry for all the questions! Any help is appreciated

Yes. Unlock is needed. But it is sooo easy on Nexus: fastboot oem unlock
Now, with OTAs, I would stick with a stock deodex or odex ROM and just update when your dev updates. Trust me, saves a lot of headache.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

swagstr said:
Yes. Unlock is needed. But it is sooo easy on Nexus: fastboot oem unlock
Now, with OTAs, I would stick with a stock deodex or odex ROM and just update when your dev updates. Trust me, saves a lot of headache.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick response! See the thing was, I didn't want to have to have to flash a ROM because I like how quickly Nexus devices get updated and I'm worried it'll be delayed by that process.. I'm not even certain I need to root yet anyway haha..My phone is rooted (mostly for hotspot, wireless adb, etc.), but I've yet to come across a compelling reason to root the N7 in the first place. Can anyone offer some examples?

SJonesGSO said:
Thanks for the quick response! See the thing was, I didn't want to have to have to flash a ROM because I like how quickly Nexus devices get updated and I'm worried it'll be delayed by that process.. I'm not even certain I need to root yet anyway haha..My phone is rooted (mostly for hotspot, wireless adb, etc.), but I've yet to come across a compelling reason to root the N7 in the first place. Can anyone offer some examples?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium backup. Adblockers. Etc. If you don't got a reason to root. Don't

Here's my Nexus 7 rooting notes (I use fedora linux on my system and root from there):
http://home.comcast.net/~tomhorsley/hardware/nexus7/hacking.html

you are always safe with nexus
all nexus devices have stock images located on google's site and they are flashable in fastboot so you will never be outdated only these methods you will lose your data my suggestion is with whatever you do in your tinkering is back up everything just to be safe and make data recovery a breeze good luck

albundy2010 said:
Titanium backup. Adblockers. Etc. If you don't got a reason to root. Don't
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use Titanium Backup, and I don't use adblockers on principal (I'm an app developer and make most of my revenue from ad clicks).
At this point, I'm thinking I'm just not going to go through the trouble if I can't think of a specific reason to. Thanks everyone.

There is plenty of ways to root and unlock with AIO's out there but there is no point of really doing it at this moment as there is not that much development for N7-2

I would suggest you do the unlock, even if you don't plan on using custom recovery or rooting at this time.
Otherwise if you find something where you need root or custom recovery for in the future, you'll end up wiping your data then, after everything is set up and you've installed your apps.
Unlocking won't affect your ability to receive OTAs and neither will installing root.
Custom recovery can affect your ability to receive OTAs, but you actually don't need to install custom recovery to root. You can just temporarily boot into twrp or cwm (ie don't write the custom recovery onto your phone) and run the update.zip for SuperSU. Use fastboot boot twrp.img to do a one-time boot into custom recovery.

Rooting & Rom'ing

Okay, I think I know the answer to this question, so forgive me. Just want to be sure before I go blow $500.
For the Nexus devices, regardless of the carrier, we'll be able to root them and ROM them as well as install new Kernel's because the bootloaders will be unlocked?
If that's correct please say so. If it's only partially correct, please explain it all to me.
Disgruntled Verizon User with a S6 Edge
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!

Yes, its easy as pie.

nexuses are always devs favorites...

@mrbigdrawsz As a fellow Verizon user, I know exactly were your coming from. And yes since this is a nexus device coming directly from Google and not being sold or touched by Verizon, it will be good to go for all your rooting, ROM'ing, Bootloader unlocking, and custom kernel needs.

Yes! Though I am not sure about the Pixel C. I am wondering if Google giving products the Pixel name means they lock them down? Sorry, little off topic.

I'm only curious how/if Google has the fingerprint security locked down when it comes to root

shimp208 said:
@mrbigdrawsz As a fellow Verizon user, I know exactly were your coming from. And yes since this is a nexus device coming directly from Google and not being sold or touched by Verizon, it will be good to go for all your rooting, ROM'ing, Bootloader unlocking, and custom kernel needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank the sweet, tiny, infant squishy baby Jesus! I have yet to own a nexus phone (fed up with my GS5) and am about to pre order the 5X. I miss getting to try out different roms and such, so i'm really pumped about the 5X. the 6P is just too big of a phone for me i think.
Forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere, is there any word on xposed for android M?

owenrg said:
Forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere, is there any word on xposed for android M?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are still working out the bugs on getting it to run on 5.x completely as they want and those devs on the Xposed team do a phenomenal job. Support for 6.0 marshmallow will eventually come but it will be a little bit yet.

If I unlock bootload, will I have problem with OTA?

shimp208 said:
They are still working out the bugs on getting it to run on 5.x completely as they want and those devs on the Xposed team do a phenomenal job. Support for 6.0 marshmallow will eventually come but it will be a little bit yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome thanks!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

menaceinc said:
If I unlock bootload, will I have problem with OTA?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you just unlock the bootloader you will be fine for OTA's, if you root or then install a custom recovery then you'll have to apply the OTA updates a different way then usual.

Thanks, I will just do that, unlocking bootloader. I really missed OTA as my current N5 is rooted.
shimp208 said:
If you just unlock the bootloader you will be fine for OTA's, if you root or then install a custom recovery then you'll have to apply the OTA updates a different way then usual.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

shimp208 said:
If you just unlock the bootloader you will be fine for OTA's, if you root or then install a custom recovery then you'll have to apply the OTA updates a different way then usual.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will rooting affect OTA? or will OTA just update and revert the device back to a non rooted state?

Tank87 said:
Will rooting affect OTA? or will OTA just update and revert the device back to a non rooted state?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my experience, installing an OTA over a rooted phone would just kill root and you'd have to root it again, however, installing a custom ROM, the developer usually kills OTA so that all the custom stuff doesn't get jacked up.

Tank87 said:
Will rooting affect OTA? or will OTA just update and revert the device back to a non rooted state?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting will effect the built in method of OTA updates. This is not a problem though. 99% of the time you will have access to the updated via the nexus factory image site before you receive notification of an OTA update on your device. Download the update and extract the boot, bootloader, radio, and system images. Flash via fastboot in bootloader mode and you will update your device without losing data/settings. I believe that you can flash img files with recent TWRP builds also.
To root after update just reboot to TWRP recovery and reboot. You will be prompted to install root before system reboots.
May seem a little overwhelming if its your first nexus device but a lot easier than updating a non nexus rooted Android device.
For more info check out any one of the recent nexus routing guides sticky threads

I know many people rooted etc their Nexus 5s using the Wugfresh Nexus Root ToolKit. Undoubtably a version will be introduced for the 5X,
If you root your device then flash a custom rom, you will be notified of the update via OTA or otherwise (eg Pushbullet) for that specific rom that you have flashed.

SlyUK said:
I know many people rooted etc their Nexus 5s using the Wugfresh Nexus Root ToolKit. Undoubtably a version will be introduced for the 5X,
If you root your device then flash a custom rom, you will be notified of the update via OTA or otherwise (eg Pushbullet) for that specific rom that you have flashed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why use a Toolkit to root? Just using ADB and Fastboot is better/easier since you can actually see what is happening during the process. Using a toolkit removes that element and if it hangs you don't where in the process it failed on.

metpage said:
Why use a Toolkit to root? Just using ADB and Fastboot is better/easier since you can actually see what is happening during the process. Using a toolkit removes that element and if it hangs you don't where in the process it failed on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes thats true, but I haven't heard of many people who have had problems with Wugfresh and it is a popular method. Everyone is different

I always rooted my Nexus (N4, N5 & N7), but I am not going to root my new upcoming Nexus 5X. Why? It just too much to flash/root since Google will release monthly security updates. Yes, I did use "fastboot flash xxx xxx.img" method. However, I will unlock the bootloader in case I change my mind in the future. With unlocked bootloader, I can always fix phone via flash factory images.

Zenfone 2 issues in 2017

Hello,
I bought a Zenfone 2 in 2015 and have loved it ever since. Back then it was simple to root, unlock the bootloader, and neither required the other.
To root, just enable ADB and run this.
To unlock the bootloader, just download this from azus.
Now, buying a phone fresh, to remove all the bloat is becoming a challenge.
To root, you need an unlock the bootloader. To unlock the bootloader, you need to downgrade to an early 5.0 image.
So I downgrade, unlock the bootloader, and root. To get back on 6, I need to upgrade to a newer version of 5.0, so I do. Root gone, bootloader still unlocked, splash screen is normal. Fine, I root again.
Finally, after upgrading to 6.0 (using adb sideload) both root and the bootloader unlock are gone. So I have to start again, and either live with unbloated 5.0, or unrooted, bloated 6.0.
As far as I can tell the only way around this is downgrade to 5.0, unlock my bootloader, then flash a pre rooted unsigned system.img.
Sadly I cannot find a recent pre rooted unsigned system.img, and have no way of knowing how to create one. If someone could help me make one I would greatly appreciate it.
Am I doing this all wrong? Is there a better way?
Because now I have a phone that I'm either stuck with a buggy 5.0 or a bloated 6.0; and the original, two year old zenfone is stuck in the bootloader because I was experimenting with various tools from around here.
I am well aware that I could just nuke the old phone with xFSTK to get out, but I refuse to. I have no such problems nuking the new one though.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, the Zenfone 2 is still a great device and is fantastic value for money, so if I can sort out all this I will happily make a full, comprehensive guide with my new knowledge to replace the errors in the outdated one here, and to add far more comprehensive knowledge about unbricking:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/zenfone2/general/asus-zenfone-2-flashing-recovery-mode-t3096596
Thank you all for your time

assuming you are already on MM version ww4.21.10.233... if no update to this version and download the following tool..
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72QQTXqZSRwTDNtU1N6OEdMdmM
reboot phone in fastboot mode. now extract the downloaded zip and double click unlock.bat phone will reboot 2 times. then you will get white screen and stuck there. when you see white screen. simply turn off mobile. reboot in fastboot mode with volume plus and power button. and run restore.bat from extracted zip.
now download twrp from official twrp website version 3.1.1.0. and flash it in fastboot mode. hope you know how to ( place twrp image in adb fastboot tool and open command windows in same folder reboot phone in fastboot mode and connect to pc. run the following command
fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.1.1-0-Z00A.img
then use volume button to find recovery mode and click power button to boot into twrp.
now download super su from following link use this version only as i have just tested it few minutes ago.
https://download.chainfire.eu/1114/SuperSU/SR1-SuperSU-v2.82-SR1-20170608224931.zip
place superuser zip on internal memory or sd card and click install in twrp and install super userzip. alternatively you can sideload supersu zip as well. then wipe cache and dalvik cache and reboot system. note phone may bootloop or restart 2,3 times. don't interrupt it. it will boot itself into system.
this is 100 percent safe way.
---------- Post added at 11:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:05 PM ----------
x86fanboy said:
Hello,
I bought a Zenfone 2 in 2015 and have loved it ever since. Back then it was simple to root, unlock the bootloader, and neither required the other.
To root, just enable ADB and run this.
To unlock the bootloader, just download this from azus.
Now, buying a phone fresh, to remove all the bloat is becoming a challenge.
To root, you need an unlock the bootloader. To unlock the bootloader, you need to downgrade to an early 5.0 image.
So I downgrade, unlock the bootloader, and root. To get back on 6, I need to upgrade to a newer version of 5.0, so I do. Root gone, bootloader still unlocked, splash screen is normal. Fine, I root again.
Finally, after upgrading to 6.0 (using adb sideload) both root and the bootloader unlock are gone. So I have to start again, and either live with unbloated 5.0, or unrooted, bloated 6.0.
As far as I can tell the only way around this is downgrade to 5.0, unlock my bootloader, then flash a pre rooted unsigned system.img.
Sadly I cannot find a recent pre rooted unsigned system.img, and have no way of knowing how to create one. If someone could help me make one I would greatly appreciate it.
Am I doing this all wrong? Is there a better way?
Because now I have a phone that I'm either stuck with a buggy 5.0 or a bloated 6.0; and the original, two year old zenfone is stuck in the bootloader because I was experimenting with various tools from around here.
I am well aware that I could just nuke the old phone with xFSTK to get out, but I refuse to. I have no such problems nuking the new one though.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, the Zenfone 2 is still a great device and is fantastic value for money, so if I can sort out all this I will happily make a full, comprehensive guide with my new knowledge to replace the errors in the outdated one here, and to add far more comprehensive knowledge about unbricking:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/zenfone2/general/asus-zenfone-2-flashing-recovery-mode-t3096596
Thank you all for your time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you state that you have an old device which you are unable to revive with xFSTK. what error do you get? put device on charge for 5,6 hours with original charger and use the following guide. use correct gp flag value use 4 zeros not 5
https://forum.xda-developers.com/zenfone2/help/thead-bricked-phone-updating-to-mm-tips-t3452785

wow, no need to do all this... just use one of the available tool, my prefered one is this one:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/zenfone2/general/bl-unlock-ze551ml-toolkit-t3546293
very easy to use, to unlock, it will temporaly downgrade your boot to 5.0, unlock bootloader, then reflash boot 6.0.
Once there, just flash TWRP recovery and Magisk, from the tools.
I also had a locked ZF2 in MM 6.0 and using this tool it took less than 5 minutes to have an unlocked rooted phone, and I haven't wiped or lost anything.